Streaming quality

[sddawson]

When I talked about using Jriver, I meant the full-blown Media Center acting as its own DLNA Media Server (which I resume it can do) instead of MinimServer. Then JRemote on iOS can browse that and get Media Center to send files to the Oppo. Are you saying to use Media Center to instead act as some sort of a client or renderer to MinimServer? As a renderer I wouldn't think it could then send data to the Oppo. Sorry for my confusion!

Thanks for the Intelligent Browser explanation. I can see that in action in my tree. It's just that at present I don't have many files with things like Composer.

[simoncn]

(09-07-2014 00:38)sddawson Wrote:  When I talked about using Jriver, I meant the full-blown Media Center acting as its own DLNA Media Server (which I resume it can do) instead of MinimServer. Then JRemote on iOS can browse that and get Media Center to send files to the Oppo. Are you saying to use Media Center to instead act as some sort of a client or renderer to MinimServer? As a renderer I wouldn't think it could then send data to the Oppo. Sorry for my confusion!

Thanks for the Intelligent Browser explanation. I can see that in action in my tree. It's just that at present I don't have many files with things like Composer.

I misunderstood what you were saying about JRiver. I thought you meant using MinimServer as your library server and using JRiver+JRemote as a UPnP control point to access this library using a nice iOS UI and play the files on the OPPO. JRiver+JRemote can do this.

If you are eliminating MinimServer and using JRiver as the server, JRiver will have full access to the tags in your files.

[sddawson]

I had no idea JRiver could do that! So basically on a Mac or PC it can run as a control point itself and browse the MinimServer tree, instructing Minimserver to send files to the Oppo. Then JRemote can be used to control that from iOS. Do I have it right?

If it's acting as a control point, wouldn't it be seeing the complete Intelligent Browsing tree, just as 8Player does?

[simoncn]

(09-07-2014 00:58)sddawson Wrote:  I had no idea JRiver could do that! So basically on a Mac or PC it can run as a control point itself and browse the MinimServer tree, instructing Minimserver to send files to the Oppo. Then JRemote can be used to control that from iOS. Do I have it right?

Yes, except that it imports the MinimServer library rather than browsing the MinimServer tree.

Quote:If it's acting as a control point, wouldn't it be seeing the complete Intelligent Browsing tree, just as 8Player does?

No, because it imports the resource URLs for all the files (with their DIDL-Lite metadata) as a "flat" set of data and then constructs its own browse tree from the DIDL-Lite metadata that is has imported.

[sddawson]

Seems strange to me that it imports a Media Server library rather than just accessing it like other DLNA controllers do (like 8player). If it imports the library, what happens when you add new music? In that case, I presume you have to manually tell MinimServer to rescan. Do you have to do something similar to Jriver to get it to reread from MinimServer?

If JRiver doesn't use the MinimServer "tree", it strikes me that you might as well just let JRiver handle the whole thing and forget about MinimServer. Doesn't seem to be much point in having both. Is there an advantage to having both?

I know these questions are a bit above and beyond, since I'm asking you about something other than MinimServer, so thanks for bearing with me...

[simoncn]

(09-07-2014 09:16)sddawson Wrote:  Seems strange to me that it imports a Media Server library rather than just accessing it like other DLNA controllers do (like 8player). If it imports the library, what happens when you add new music? In that case, I presume you have to manually tell MinimServer to rescan. Do you have to do something similar to Jriver to get it to reread from MinimServer?

The MinimServer rescan is initiated manually at present. In the future, I am hoping to be able to automate this.

I can't find a way to make JRiver refresh the data it has imported from MinimServer, other than disconnecting from MinimServer and reconnecting. There is a refresh button in JRiver that seems like it should do this, but it doesn't appear to send a search query to MinimServer.

Quote:If JRiver doesn't use the MinimServer "tree", it strikes me that you might as well just let JRiver handle the whole thing and forget about MinimServer. Doesn't seem to be much point in having both. Is there an advantage to having both?

You might want to use your MinimServer library with other control points as well as JRiver+JRemote. If you are committed to JRiver+JRemote as your only control point, the limitations that JRiver imposes on external UPnP libraries mean that you might as well use JRiver as your only server. This is presumably an intentional strategy to bring and keep users within the JRiver ecosystem.

[sddawson]

OK - enough with the questions! Time I installed a JRiver trial and made a decision! Think I'm leaning towards MinimServer just because its nice and simple. It's just a shame that there aren't better iOS controller apps out there, since this will be my primary interface to play music on my Oppo's. Thanks again for your input. I might be back...

[simoncn]

(09-07-2014 10:48)sddawson Wrote:  OK - enough with the questions! Time I installed a JRiver trial and made a decision! Think I'm leaning towards MinimServer just because its nice and simple. It's just a shame that there aren't better iOS controller apps out there, since this will be my primary interface to play music on my Oppo's. Thanks again for your input. I might be back...

One more option you could consider is to use Linn Kinsky as the control point and install BubbleUPnP Server (not the same as the BubbleUPnP control point) to provide a OpenHome proxy renderer for the OPPO. You should be able to run BubbleUPnP Server on the same NAS that you use to run MinimServer. This keeps Kinsky happy because it is talking to an OpenHome renderer (equivalent to a Linn DS).

This approach isn't ideal because it introduces another software component into the chain. Compared with the JRiver option, it has two advantages:

1) MinimServer's simplicity, Intelligent Browsing and a few other nice features.

2) You only need the NAS and the iOS control point running to browse and play music, not another PC (or Mac) running JRiver.

[sddawson]

Thanks for the thought. I actually run all this (including MinimServer) on a constantly-running Mac Mini. BubbleUPnp looks like a bit of a hassle on a Mac, just to be able to run a slightly-better iOS controller app.

[haggis999]

(09-07-2014 11:37)sddawson Wrote:  Thanks for the thought. I actually run all this (including MinimServer) on a constantly-running Mac Mini. BubbleUPnp looks like a bit of a hassle on a Mac, just to be able to run a slightly-better iOS controller app.

Hi sddawson,
I am also an Oppo user (the Oppo BDP-105, to be precise) and I find it useful to run a combination of MinimServer, JRiver Media Center and BubbleUPnP.

MinimServer runs on my NAS. BubbleUPnP on my Android smartphone acts as a control point and streams the music from MinimServer to JRiver on my PC. In this case, JRiver is simply acting as a DLNA renderer. The PC is connected to the asynch USB input of the Oppo, in order to get gapless playback from the Oppo (streaming direct to the Oppo over the network does not offer gapless playback).

JRiver is also my primary tool for organising my media files.

I use the Oppo Media Control HD app on the iPad for streaming video files from my NAS but it's not much use for audio, due to the lack of DLNA support. Ideally, I would like a version of BubbleUPnP to be released for the iPad but I suspect that this will never happen. I am therefore considering getting a second tablet that runs Android, primarily to view BubbleUPnP on a larger screen.

None of the iPad-based control point apps I have tried so far have been much good for classical music and none of them have offered anything like the configurability of BubbleUPnP. Kinsky only works for my Oppo setup in conjunction with BubbleUPnP Server but I find the Kinsky interface much less intuitive than BubbleUPnP.

I've no idea if any of the above is useful to you, but thought you might like to hear how another Oppo user drives his system...

David